New Cable Series Nab Strong Ratings

Summer is a great time to be launching new TV series on cable as various recent show premieres have drawn strong ratings.

USA’s new “Alias”-esque spy drama “Covert Affairs” scored a strong 4.9 million viewers for its season premiere and was the biggest cable scripted premiere launch this year in the key 18-49 demographic.

‘Covert’ managed to outdo its lead-in, returning drama “White Collar” whose second season premiere rating of 4.3 million viewers slipped by 20% from its series premiere but did improve on its first season average.

The Angie Harmon-led cop series “Rizzoli & Isles” on TNT managed a whopping 7.6 million viewers tuning in for the pilot episode, making it cable’s top commercial-supported series launch of all time.

The show maintained practically the entire audience lead-in from the sixth season premiere of “The Closer” with 7.7 million viewers, itself up 7% from its fifth season premiere.

On the same network the Jason Lee-led “Memphis Beat” scored a softer but still solid 4.3 million viewers in its series debut a few weeks ago.

On free-to-air TV, ABC’s cop trainee drama “Rookie Blue” pulled in 7.3 million viewers the other week, ABC’s best summer scripted opener in six years which has lead to the network already renewing it for a second season.

Syfy’s “Haven” kicked off with 2.3 million viewers, a big improvement on the mere 1.6 million viewers who tuned in for the network’s last major series launch “Caprica”.

The network also saw the fourth season premiere of “Eureka” slipping very slightly to 2.5 million viewers, while the second season premiere of “Warehouse 13” rose to just under three million viewers.